Mission & History

United Nations Watch is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, whose mandate is to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter.

United Nations Watch was established in 1993 by legendary civil rights activist Morris B. Abram, the former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

United Nations Watch participates actively at the UN as an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI). It reports regularly to both.

United Nations Watch believes in the United Nations’ mission on behalf of the international community to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and provide for a more just world. We believe that even with its shortcomings, the UN remains an indispensable tool in bringing together diverse nations and cultures.

United Nations Watch is keenly aware that member states often ask the UN to fulfill mandates and tasks that are neither feasible nor within the means provided. While it would be unrealistic to ignore the UN’s weaknesses, we advocate finding ways to build on its strengths and use its limited resources effectively.

United Nations Watch is foremost concerned with the just application of UN Charter principles. Areas of interest include: UN management reform, the UN and civil society, equality within the UN, and the equal treatment of member states. United Nations Watch notes that the disproportionate attention and unfair treatment applied by the UN toward Israel over the years offers an object lesson (though not the only one) in how due process, equal treatment, and other fundamental principles of the UN Charter are often ignored or selectively upheld.

United Nations Watch, together with 20 other international NGOs organizes each year the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy. Started in 2009, this annual human rights conference brings together well-known human rights defenders, victims, activists and former political prisoners, reported by major media around the world.

United Nations Watch is a leader at the UN in the struggle against antisemitism, and campaigns at world bodies against all forms of racism and discrimination.

United Nations Watch is chaired by Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, former U.S. Ambassador to Romania and Special Presidential Emissary for the Cyprus Conflict.

From 1993 to 2000, United Nations Watch was affiliated with the World Jewish Congress, and then in 2001 with the American Jewish Committee. As of 2013, United Nations Watch was no longer affiliated with any organization, and is fully independent.

International Advisory Board

Ambassador Diego Arria
Venezuelan opposition leader, former Permanent Representative to the United Nations and President of the Security Council

Professor Irwin Cotler
Canadian MP, international law professor, human rights advocate and former Justice Minister

Yang Jianli
Chinese dissident, former political prisoner, survivor of Tiananmen Square massacre, president of Initiatives for China

Garry Kasparov
Russian dissident and former world chess champion

Ambassador Mark P. Lagon
Georgetown University Chair for International Relations and Security, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. State Department responsible for United Nations-related human rights and humanitarian issues

Katrina Lantos Swett
President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Lord David Trimble
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, member of British House of Lords, former First Minister of Northern Ireland

Professor Gert Weisskirchen
Former German MP, professor of higher education, and Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

“I deeply appreciate the valuable work performed by UN Watch.I believe that informed and independent evaluation of the United Nations’ activities will prove a vital source as we seek to adapt the Organization to the needs of a changing world.I can promise you that I will pay close attention to your observations and views in the years ahead.”
—Letter to Ambassador Morris B. Abram, Chairman of United Nations Watch, Jan. 30, 1997.

“Today, Morris’s many contributions over the years are known to us all. He has become a forceful advocate of freedom, tolerance and civil rights. He has served no fewer than five United States Presidents. And he has embraced, as one of his main causes, the fate of Jews around the world and their hopes of living fruitful lives, free from discrimination and fear. He has, in short, proved himself a global citizen of the first rank. I say this even as head of an organization which has been on the receiving end of some sharp criticism from UN Watch, Morris’s current passion. Don’t get me wrong. We don’t agree with everything Morris says, but we can take it.‚— UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s 1999 Tribute to United Nations Watch Founder Morris B. Abram; click here.